The Famous Three
by Dominique Green
Summary: My spin on book five! Cho notices Harry - Harry is plagued by guilt, Ron wakes up and smells the ever so strong coffee. Be warned, it gets darker...
1. The new DADA teacher

HELLO! This is my first ever fan fiction I have posted here so PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks to HiBob (your stories rock) who inspired me yeah!  
  
Disclaimer: You know the deal, characters etc are owed by JK Rowling. (all praise be to her). I suppose the plot is mine, though! Seeing as I wrote it and all. And all characters you don't recognize are mine too. Counts for whole story!  
  
The famous three (namely Ron, Hermione and Harry) were all wondering who the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher was. There had not been a new teacher at the feast and no-one they knew had had Defence Against The Dark Arts yet.  
  
'I wonder what kind of psycho this one's going to be?' Ron asked Harry and Hermione, absentmindedly stroking the mouse on his desk.  
  
'Psycho?' Hermione said stuffily.  
  
'Well, you have to admit there has been a history of weird freaky teachers in that department' whispered Harry, in case Professor Flitwick noticed he wasn't working especially hard on mastering a charm to make a mouse sing; Seamus' mouse was stumbling over 'twinkle twinkle little star' with a bit of a lisp, Hermione's was of course reciting various parts of La Bohéme so perfectly that it could pass as a world class opera singer but Neville' mouse lay asleep while Dean, who was partnering him struggled to stop singing the Hogwarts School Song.  
  
'I mean,' Harry continued, as Flitwick rushed off to help Dean, 'One was sharing his soul with Voldemort, the next was a fraud whose only talent was memory charms and taking credit for other people, third, a werewolf, and last a murderer who helped Voldemort return!'  
  
Ron flinched at these last words and then turned to Hermione 'He's right, you know - I bet this one turns out to be descended from the giant squid-'  
  
'-or he could be a horned demon' chimed in Seamus  
  
'-maybe a blood-sucking vampire'  
  
'-or an alien'  
  
'or Snape!'  
  
'All right all right! He could be any of those things but much more likely he's a perfectly ordinary teacher - a HUMAN teacher!' Hermione hissed at the boy's grins.  
  
As the Gryffindors lined up outside Defence Against The Dark Arts that afternoon Ron, Harry and Seamus were still cracking jokes about the new teacher (Dean was in the hospital wing now spouting 'I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves...') and Hermione was getting very annoyed.  
  
'Go on then Her-my-own,' giggled Seamus, look round the door and see if it's the creature from the purple lagoon on the moon of Xiron, from somewhere in the galaxy of Ungabooma, a million light years away.' followed by screams of laughter from Ron and Harry.  
  
Hermione stuck her nose in the air and marched into the classroom. The rest of the class filed into the class, Hermione was sitting upright in a desk right at the front and the three boys, still laughing, sulked to the back of the class and sat down. There was a general hum of chatter in the room, and then She walked in.  
  
Wow.  
  
All the boys' heads in the class snapped up, their eyes following slinking across the room. There was silence and a very tense atmosphere as she sat down on the desk and looked slowly round at them all.  
  
'Wow.' thought Harry. 'She's beautiful.'  
  
She was tall, about 6 feet, with long, wavy, silky black hair streaked with blue and silver. Her large shining blue eyes seemed to light up with interest as she scanned the room. Her lips were a sparkly black to match her hair. She was wearing a black strappy top with a picture of the lead singer of The Weird Sisters on it, but over this she wore a long dark purple net top with spider web patterns, the sleeves were flared and long, and as she lifted her arm to brush her hair out of her magnificent eyes they fell down to reveal a black tattoo, encircling her wrist. A plain black skirt covered her long legs with a long spilt up the side, revealing pink and purple tights and violently red knee-high boots.  
  
She smiled, pulled out her wand and said calmly 'my name is Penny Morgana, your new teacher, welcome to my class. Will you please look this way...' * *  
  
As the class filed out of the room there was very little talking. Hermione was saying something about the interesting lesson they had just had but Harry and Ron found themselves adding a 'yeah' and an 'um, I know' here and there so she would think they were listening. Harry saw Cho passing on the stairs and felt the blood rising to his face. She turned round an saw him, waved and said 'Hi Harry!'  
  
Harry choked over his response a little bit. 'Hi Cho, how are you?' Cho had been hit very hard with the loss of Cedric. He had done that. Did she blame him? She should, she probably wanted to shout at him. Harry saw Ron smirking out of the corner of his eye but he didn't care.  
  
'Well, you know, coping.' Cho smiled nervously. 'I, well, I was thinking, do you want to come play Quidditch sometime? It's just that my friends and I are a few people short, and Quidditch season doesn't start for ages.' She had gone quite red while she was saying this, which Harry was surprised about. 'Yeah, that'd be great, um, can Ron play?' Cho looked very relieved, and smiled her lovely smile. 'Ok great! How about tomorrow afternoon?' 'Cool, see you tomorrow!' 'Bye!' called Cho as she walked off to dinner with her friends. Harry felt very light all of a sudden. He looked at Ron, and it seemed he was watching him through a telescope, a small dot in the distance. The dot seemed to be saying something - 'Whhhy - diiiiid - yoouuuu' Harry pulled himself back into reality, while Ron was speaking. 'Why did you ask if I could play?' 'I need someone to go with, I don't know any of Cho's friends!' 'Yeah, but I'll probably make a fool of myself.' 'Shut up Ron! I need you to come! Where's Hermione gone?'  
  
They met Hermione in the Great Hall, eating dinner by herself, looking very depressed. Harry had noticed she had been pretty low since the start of term, but he hadn't found out why. George and Fred ran into the hall, laughing loudly as Filch's voice echoed from the corridor. They walked over to the Gryffindors table and sat down next to Hermione, followed by Harry and Ron. 'Hey Harry, want to come and play Quidditch tomorrow? There's a big friendly match against some Ravenclaws. not teams, invitation.' Fred blurted out with a mouthful of mashed potato. 'Um, Cho already asked. Ron's coming too.' 'Excellent! Now we have enough.' George said enthusiastically. 'I can't wait. I've been deprived of Quidditch for a whole year. sniff.' 'Great I'll just be doing my homework on my own then.' Hermione muttered gloomily. 'Fun life I lead.' 'Mum says I might be getting a new broom for Christmas, Harry, a really cool one, maybe a Eagle Wing 2!' Ron said proudly, totally ignoring Hermione. 'Cool!' exclaimed Harry, glad that Ron was getting something good, he felt very bad for the Weasleys, because although very nice they are extremely poor. 'Yeah, Dad got a bonus for some reason.' 'That's nothing, Ron,' Fred boasted 'When we get Weasley's Wizard Wheezes up and running properly-ugh!' George had elbowed Fred very hard in the ribs. 'I've got an excellent idea for the Dursley's Christmas present - George, do you have many canary creams left?' 'I don't think-' began Hermione, only to be interrupted by George. 'As many as you want, Harry, in fact, Fred and I have recently come up with a new invention-' Hermione standing up and striding out of the Hall with a muffled sob cut off George. 'What's wrong with her?' He asked bewilderedly.  
  
What do you think? Please review I don't mind criticism 


	2. Quidditch

Harry lay in his bed, late that night. That feeling when everything seems too good to be true was creeping up on him. After the summer holiday he spent every night looking out his window in Privet Drive, expecting Voldemort to come and finish off what he's been trying to do for fourteen years. But surprisingly he hadn't heard anything about Voldemort all summer, only from rumours Ron had heard. He had had one letter from Sirius, but that was very brief and really just reassured Harry that he wasn't in mortal danger. Crookshanks crept in the boy's dormitory, looked over at Harry and then climbed onto Harry's bed and fell asleep. Harry scratched Crookshanks behind his ears, thinking. When he finally fell asleep he had a very vivid dream. Giants - bigger even than Hagrid, were marching over people, creating a solid wall of bodies. Harry stood in front of them, trying desperately to stop them, but they kept on coming, and as Harry fell down he was looking up into Hagrid's face, screaming to him to stop, but he did not.  
  
After lessons the next day Harry and Ron dashed up to the dormitory - Ron was borrowing Charlie's broom for a while - an old 'Gold Bullet' broom, and Harry to get his Firebolt. When they got down to the Quidditch pitch about ten people where there, Fred and George were not there yet. 'Hi Harry! Hi Ron, these are my friends, Anja, Susanna, and Charisma. ' Cho pointed to three girls, who Harry had seen Cho going round with. 'Hi Harry!' said Susanna and Anja together, and then burst into giggles. But Charisma seemed more interested in Ron. She was short with blond curly hair, which bounced up and down as she walked. 'Hi, Ron.' Just then George and Fred turned up.  
  
It felt really good to be playing again, Harry had forgotten that wonderful feeling while he was soaring over everyone, and it was nice to play without all the agro of trying desperately to win for a change. Ron was playing as a chaser and he wasn't that bad, Harry thought. He scored a few goals and Harry was glad he was having a good time. Charisma, playing as a beater kept on batting bludgers his way. Lee Jordan had saved a few, so even though he wasn't keeping score, he felt that Gryffindor were winning. Although Harry was just having fun he kept his eye out for the Snitch, and just as it was getting dark a ray of sunlight reflected into his eye - off the Golden Snitch!  
  
George and Fred cheered him on as he urged his Firebolt faster. Cho was below him; the others had stopped playing to watch. Suddenly he saw a black dog, high up in the stands. 'Not now!' He whispered, trying to concentrate, watching the Snitch flitter about the goals ahead, but his eyes kept flickering up, to Sirius, then down, to Cho. He kept his stare on the Snitch; all he could see was that little golden flicker, shining in the dim light. It was getting closer, he reached out, to put his fingers around it, but then he felt Cho's arm brush his and his concentration was lost and he looked into Cho's face, full with determination. He put his hand out, ready to grab the Snitch, but his fingers closed around Cho's hand. She turned to smile at him; he blushed and drew his hand away quickly, and suddenly his hearing tuned in again and the Ravenclaws were cheering, the Gryffindors grinning. 'We won!' shouted Cho. 'Yeah, but you just wait 'till the Quidditch season!' Fred called back.  
  
There was a general feeling of 'staying to talk' But Harry quickly found Ron and left, half of embarrassment but mainly to find Sirius. 'What was with you?' Ron asked, grinning his head off. 'You could have easily got that Snitch.' 'I saw Sirius in the stands.' 'Oh yeah, it was Cho's. What? Sirius?' Gasped Ron as he registered what Harry had said. 'Yeah. I think He might want to talk.' said Harry slowly. 'Shall we get Hermione?' Ron asked. 'I dunno, we should really.' 'She seemed a bit upset earlier.' 'Maybe she felt left out, we should get her.' Harry said, deciding. Suddenly they ran into a dog, it was dark and they tripped right over. 'AAAAAGGGHHH!' They both cried out. 'Woof' said Sirius, apologetically. They both followed him into the woods.  
  
'Harry, Ron, good to see you.' Sirius looked very tired, but he had new robes and his hair was short again, all in all he looked healthy. 'I have to talk to you, it's happening soon, but I can't speak here. Harry, go and get your invisibility cloak, then we can go to Dumbledore; we've got important news. Ron, fetch Hermione and meet Harry and I in the entrance hall. Please hurry, I may be being watched. Harry and Ron hurried off while Sirius turned back into a dog. 


	3. Cho

Sirius under the cloak, Harry and Ron half running along the corridor, and Hermione stuffing quills and pieces of parchment into her bag, the group made their way up to the stone Gargoyle that guarded the door to Dumbledore's office. Then they turned the corner, and saw Snape standing right outside the hidden doorway. 'Oh no.' whispered Ron. 'Aaagh..' groaned Hermione. 'Um, ah, we were, um...' stuttered Harry. For a few moments Snape's evil eyes flashed across them, and then. 'Mulled Mead' - it was Snape that spoke. The Gargoyle sprang to life and leapt aside. He was letting them in! A small crowd of people was gathered in Dumbledore's office. Some of them Harry recognised - Professor Morgana, Professor McGonagal, Hagrid, Madame Maxine, Bill, Mr. Weasley, and - Professor Lupin! He smiled at Harry, and Harry waved back. There were others there to, and no one seemed to be surprised when Sirius pulled off the cloak, and handed it to Harry. Dumbledore came in, and smiled at all of them. He looked weary and tired, but his bright blue eyes were as alert as ever. 'My friends, we are here to discuss most dreadful matters. As you know, Voldemort has returned and the ministry refuses to acknowledge that fact. Therefore, I have started a Dark Defence League in which those who know the truth are united. We have here today representatives of the members. Rubeus Hagrid for the G.A.F.E, Giants Against Forces of Evil, Olympe Maxine, for the overseas members, Arthur Weasley for the Ministry members, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger for the soon to be youth members, and Penny Morgana for the muggle awareness group.' As he was saying this, a purple quill was scribbling down all of his words, much like a Quick-Quotes Quill, thought Harry, but not as inaccurate. Dumbledore sighed. 'I must be truthful, my friends. We have information that suggests Voldemort is planning to make an appearance, as it were, and show the ministry and others that do not believe he is back that he has returned. The reason for waiting to do this is that, he plans to try and take Harry Potter as an example.' Dumbledore stopped briefly to see how Harry took this, but Harry looked neutral. 'We must act quickly to round up all our members to stop him, Hagrid, please can I have the list of people who are willing to help.' 'Um, yeah, 'ere y'are, Professor.' Hagrid pulled out a scroll, as Madame Maxine beamed at him. Harry noticed the list was not very long. Others gave lists, too. 'Now we have come to the main point of this meeting. For those who do not know, we are planning to try to persuade Cornelius Fudge to abdicate, and in his place the Head of Department of Magical Catastrophes, a top ministry member, Mr. Andrew-Martin, will step in to be the temporary Minister.' At this point one of the men Harry did not recognise stepped forward. He was tall, with short dark, slightly spiky hair and piercing blue eyes. Harry did not know what to make of him. He looked like he might have been a singer, or an actor, but not a leader. Dumbledore invited Professor Morgana to explain her group for the record. 'There are a number of us who it is our duty to protect the muggle community further than we are currently doing, and once Voldemort and his followers are active again, the need will be even greater. I do not mean going round telling muggles that we exist, of course not. But there are certain measures we can take to decrease the muggle death-rate, such as giving them protection objects, place Wizards on patrol in certain areas, and so on.' The meeting went on, with various people speaking. Harry tried to take it all in but he got very confused. At the end several people stayed to talk out the finer details, but the purple quill was put away. Professor Lupin came over to Harry. 'Harry, it's good to see you.' 'It's good to see you too, how are you?' Harry asked eagerly, very pleased to see him again. 'Oh, fine, I've been getting paid for this work I'm doing for the Dark Defence League, so I'm okay. I heard what you did last summer, Harry, and I'm very proud.' 'Yeah. well, it was. you know.' Harry muttered. 'Yes. Anyway, Dumbledore felt it would be more sensible to let you know what's going on instead of you finding it out yourself later. He's got a few jobs for you!' said Lupin. Hermione spoke, sounding very calm and organised. 'What does he mean by the soon to be youth members, Professor?' 'Please, I'm not your teacher anymore, call me Remus. Well, I'll leave Dumbledore to answer that question.' Harry grinned. It felt good to see him again, and he was glad that what ever was going on (he didn't really understand) he was part of it. He looked over at Dumbledore, who was talking to Mr Andrew-Martin. Dumbledore looked up and saw Harry. 'Harry! Come over here a moment.' Dumbledore looked worried. 'Harry, we have an important job for you.' Hermione and Ron joined them. 'And of course, you two as well.' Said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. 'You really think they can help?' Asked Mr. Andrew-Martin. 'Indeed! You really do not understand, my friend. This is Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.' Mr. Andrew-Martin's eyes performed the familiar flick up to Harry's forehead. 'May I introduce you to Mark Andrew- Martin, the, um, 'Secret Weapon' of ours.' 'Glad to meet you.' He said stuffily. He certainly didn't look glad. Ron frowned at him. 'Mark, I think Penny may want a word-' said Dumbledore, his eyes flickering over to Professor Morgana, who looking very upset but cheered up greatly when Mr. Andrew-Martin came over and put his arm around her. Ron looked mutinous. Hermione noticed Ron's face and hid a small smile, and then asked Dumbledore: 'Professor, may I ask exactly why The Dark Lord has not yet appeared to the magical community?' 'Ah, yes, it does seem strange that Voldemort' - (Ron winced but Dumbledore did not seem to notice.) -'has not used his new strength to full advantage, but the answer is simple. Voldemort knows full well the Ministry of Magic refuses to accept his return so he has used this to his personal gain - as long as the Ministry believes he is dead or gone he can use his spies to infiltrate the Ministry without suspicion.' Harry looked at Ron - he seemed very distressed by this news. 'Um, Professor, if I may ask.' Ron looked over to his father worriedly. 'Is. is Percy, um, does Percy know. I mean.' 'Yes, indeed, our dear Percy still sides with the Minister in his beliefs, no avail to our hardest efforts.' Ron looked away. Harry wondered what he was feeling - he looked hurt. 'But, thanks to your father and his friends we have established excellent ways of identifying the spies and several of their number are under suspicion and are being questioned'- Dumbledore stopped suddenly. I'm sorry. I would like to explain everything to you - indeed it would be far better but even in these dark times we have to get some sleep!' 'But, Professor, Remus said you would tell us about the, um, youth members?' Harry said hesitantly. 'Yes, I must say it is obvious it is to me that we must make as many people aware of the situation as possible, and it seems that you three are the only ones of the pupils who would understand all of this. So you, of course, would be the obvious choice to involve your friends and work mates in our organisation. I am going to tell the school, well, I am going to tell them enough. Then it will be your job to answer any questions the students may have, um, not in too much detail,' he smiled, 'and get a list of names of those willing to support us.' 'Is that all?' Hermione asked, seemingly disappointed. Dumbledore smiled. 'It does not seem like much, but I assure you it will be of great help and it may be more trouble than you anticipate. Anyway, to bed!' Harry and his friends bided everyone goodnight and started down the stairs, in silence. Harry's ears were ringing -'take Harry Potter as an example' kept coming back to him. 


End file.
